Five times Clint wanted to tell the truth and the one time he did
by Hamsta97
Summary: Five times Clint wanted to tell Skye he worked for SHIELD and the one time he did. Read and review!


**Incredibly AU.**

Clint adopted Skye when she was sixteen. He was twenty-five and damaged and bruised from SHIELD's intensive training. And he won her a laptop in a poker game and God help him if he lost since he'd bet the flat they were staying in. When she asked him what he did as a job part of him wanted to sit her down and explain.

He wanted to tell her that he was an assassin, the kind that killed the bad guys and made sure everyone else could sleep at night. He wanted to tell her that the agency he worked for had saved his life before and if he dug deep enough he was fairly sure they'd saved hers.

But he doesn't. Instead he gives her a tired smile and says "I'm a Marine."

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He comes home with three broken ribs and a bullet wound. Skye's seventeen now and proud that her adopted brother is a Marine. And God help him he faked pictures of him wearing a Marine's uniform and even, during a mission in Afghanistan, took photos so she'd believe him.

"Oh my God Clint! What happened to you?!"

And he wants to tell her that he got in a fight with a human trafficker and got slammed into a wall. And then he'd taken a bullet for a little kid because the kid reminded him of Skye. But he didn't. He couldn't.

"Some Afghan and his mates threw me around and shot me."

"God."

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He swears he just lost track of time. Skye says he's six hours late. He could handle it if she was yelling at him but the sad quietness he couldn't deal with. Clint had been picking up a DVD and some popcorn when Coulson had arrived and told him to come with him. Lola was speedy and got them both to the next state. Clint had slipped into a drug dealer's room and broke his neck. He'd come home to find dinner ruined.

"I saw a college friend, Dean."

He's pretty sure Dean wouldn't mind being used as an excuse. Skye stops at that. She adores Dean and Sam. Clint hasn't shared the information that Sam and Dean are no longer speaking.

"We went into a bar. He was telling me about his new boyfriend Castiel."

OK, Dean would kick his ass for saying that.

"Oh, that's so cute!"

He'd have to remember that excuse.

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Clint listens patiently as Skye rages about SHIELD and Project Pegasus. He asks her if she knows who the agents are.

"No. But I'll find out."

Clint laughs, going for light-heartedness with the blue of the Tesseract burning into the backs of his eyes.

"When are you back in Iraq?"

"Tuesday."

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Clint stumbles into his flat, with a knife wound in his side. They're getting kicked out of the flat because Clint couldn't keep up with the rent. SHIELD took his pay off him until he was cleared. There's a guy Clint doesn't know at the counter and he, reasonably, demands to know who he is. The guy drawls out that his name's Miles and makes some comment about Skye being able to persuade the guy to let them stay. Clint punches him, square in the face. Miles swears and Clint's never wanted to kill anyone more. Skye walks into the kitchen, asking what the hell's going on.

"He punched me Skye!"

"Clint! Why?!"

"Skye, sweetie, it's been a hell of a week."

"For God's sake Clint."

Clint wants to tell her everything but he holds back, refusing to break down and show her all the darkness in his life that he's protected her from for so long.

"I'm going back to Iraq on Monday."

"You only just got back."

"Sorry sweetie."

Skye gives him a hug and it's like she knows SHIELD will lie to her and tell her he's dead, posing as Marines in three weeks. Clint hugs her back and wishes that just for once, his little sister could know that he was Hawkeye, her favourite Avenger. But he kisses her and leaves.

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Clint's at the Hub with Natasha arguing with her about checking up on Skye. He'd last seen her van, empty and deserted. Paying a visit to Miles did him no good either. The bastard kept smirking, but he stopped when Clint broke his jaw. Then he rounds the corner to see Grant stood with Phil and a very familiar brunette.

"Skye?"

His voice does not break, no matter what Natasha says later. Skye whips round and her face breaks into a big grin, the kind that used to make Clint feel like a decent human being.

"CLINT?! Oh my God! Are you on loan from the Marines or something?!"

A few agents' faces twitch and Clint breaks into a grin of his own.

"Actually…."

She takes it a lot better than he expected. Though she does seem more focussed on the Avengers.

"So you've actually met Captain America?!"


End file.
